Syrian heavy metallers The Hourglass have announced Jon Oliva, the mastermind and the voice of the legendary US heavy metal band Savatage, as guest vocalist in the band's new single Play The Pawn. The vocalist will put his own vocal passages and piano solo in the song. The single will be released on May 2012 on Youtube.

Rawad Abdel Massih, the band's guitarist and founder, commented: "I would like to thank Hazem Alani for letting us use his studio to record the guitars of the demo. Many thanks to Youmni Abu Alzahab as well, for performing the vocals of the demo when we needed to send it urgently to Jon. Many mega thanks for our Manager, Sharbel Kanoun for all the support, time and effort you spent to make all things successful. This is a huge dream for us, and to me personally, without you it wouldn't be real."

"And to Jon, I really don't know what to say, because really, as they say, no words can describe what I feel. I'll be thankful for you for the rest of my life. When I started playing in 1995 or when I started listening to Savatage in 1993 or when I started The Hourglass (named after Savatage's song) in 2002, not once I imagined that a day like this could come. Long Live!"